


Sharing is Caring

by FeyHasNoShame



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Underfell, Alternate Universe - Underswap, Angst, Body Horror, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eye Sex, Fontcest, Hurt/Comfort, Incest, M/M, Physical Abuse, Psychological Horror, Psychological Trauma, Sexual Abuse, Skull Fucking, UF!Papyrus, UF!Sans, US!Sans, Well - Freeform, art done by me, now with fanart, okay a lot fucked up, this is a tag??, this is just a bit fucked up, us!papyrus - Freeform, us!papyrus/uf!papyrus/uf!sans, us!papyrus/uf!sans - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 14:50:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6288784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeyHasNoShame/pseuds/FeyHasNoShame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sans has put up with so many years of Papyrus’ abuse, and it only gets worse and worse until it pushes Sans past his breaking point. Starved and weak he is running off of fumes and desperation as he teleports anywhere just to get away from his brother. Even still, he knows he’ll just come crawling back to him one day, its nice to have a break.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> there is a ton of angst in this chapter, like no fluff or comfort but it will be coming in the future!! but this is very plot heavy and can get kinda messed up at parts. and this is also going to probably be the longest chapter.

Sans had grown used to a lot of things over years of living in a world that was kill or be killed. Such as don't trust strangers, or don't trust anyone, not even your own brother. He had spent too much time trying to deny this. That his brother didn't really hate him or think of him as a burden, but who was he kidding? His brother despised him, and hoo boy did that hurt . . . He supposed it wasn't too bad as his brother wouldn’t be caught dead with people thinking anyone related to him was weak, so at least others were too afraid to mess with him. That didn’t make his home life any better.

He can't even begin to count how many times his brother had beat him, shouted at him, or forced him to pleasure him, but he didn't think he wanted to know. Perhaps he let this treatment continue because he was so starved for any kind of contact. Or maybe it was that he knew if he ran away he would end up easy EXP for some stronger monster. He wasn't exactly a weak fighter per say, but only having 1 HP made fighting a lot more complex than for any other monster.

He could remember very clearly when his brother discovered that he only had 1 HP. Papyrus was pissed at him because he had refused to fight back against a monster and ran away. So, when they made home, he had started trying to beat the hell out of Sans to get him to fight back. He had landed one good hit on his skull, which was enough to put him within an inch of his life. He could remember his brother getting increasingly infuriated since he would do nothing but dodge the bones flying at him. The screaming curses and insults still rang through his nightmares much later on. When Sans had woken up it was to Papyrus standing over him with a cold disapproving glare. _Still at 1 HP, can you get anymore disappointing Sans?_

He left even before standing and wobbling back to his sentry post. When he felt at his head though he noticed that the crack was still tender but no longer completely painful. Papyrus had taken time to heal him, but that wasn't really anything good because it only got his hopes up, only to have them crushed later. It did not take him long to lose faith in his brother ever caring for him but that did not mean he stopped loving his brother. It really did tear at him.

After that discovery, Papyrus became less violent but way more demanding; especially when he started forcing sans to pleasure him. The first time, Sans lay in his bed for hours just staring at the ceiling blankly. The second time he had sobbed for even more hours, loudly too because his brother was out and he could. The third and any time after that he would just curl up in his bed and think about his life. Sometimes he would cry silently, sometimes he would not, depending on what his brother would say to him. Thankfully though it had mostly been hand jobs and blow jobs, and he had only forced Sans down a handful of times to fuck him into the carpet. Holy shit did those times hurt.

Even still he could not bring himself to hate his brother. Sans figured that even if his brother were to snap his legs off, he would still find a way to love and be completely devoted to his brother. And yeah, he knew it was really unhealthy, but he didn't really see a problem with it as long as it kept him from completely losing his shit. So far it seemed to be working out for him. Right?

Now, he sat on the edge of his bed at who knows when o' clock, picking absent-mindedly a his radius and ulna of his left arm. It was long before any other monsters would be awake, so he had plenty of time to his own thoughts. It probably wasn't very healthy for his sanity, but what else coulde he do? If his brother caught him up at such an hour making too much noise he would really be in for it. It was very frustrating never being able to get a full night’s sleep and he picked at his bones more ruthlessly to keep from screaming out and waking his brother.

He sighed and laid back against his dirty, sheet-less mattress and pulled his one blanket back over his body. He might as well try to get some sleep before morning hit and he would spend all day working to try and rake in some funds to supplement his brother’s income. Not that his brother didn't make enough, he just didn’t see any of it. He sighed once more and turned onto his side, forcing his eyes closed. Surprisingly, he managed to fall asleep in record time. Lack of sleep had definitely caught up with him.

His typical nightmares that plagued him were present as normal but they were strangely distorted this time. Red clawed hands reached out for his naked body before melting down into his rib cage. He could feel more than hear himself screaming and the heavily viscous liquid clawed its way up his spinal chord and into skull. If he could drown, he figured that was what it would feel like. His entire body shook as the gruel poured from his eyes sockets, burning like someone had pooled lava inside his head. He could hear his bones rattling, drowning out any other sounds as he felt his screams cut off from his mouth being absolutely filled. However, his chest still heaved as if he had not stopped at all.

_Slap!!_

His screams stopped abrubtly as he jolted himself from his nightmares. He could feel wetness on his cheeks, and he could not help but shudder for a moment before he realized that they were just tears. When he opened his eyes, he flinched back violently at the sight of Papyrus looming over him with a hand raised. Ready to deliver another blow. Sans shot upright and scramble back against the corner of his bed and the wall, away from his brother. The taller skeleton was studying him with cold, angry eyes.

"S-sorry B-boss" Sans had to look away as he could not handle the intensity of his brother's gaze, "I d-didn't mean to w-wake you up."

Papyrus was silent for a moment before he spoke, "Stop your snivelling you pathetic whelp! Why couldn't I have been given a stronger brother? Or maybe no brother. There's absolutely no hope for a monster as weak as you."

Sans felt he did a decent job of hiding his hurt as he only nodded and accepted his verbal abuse. At least his brother wasn’t expecting something else for waking him up. Sans didn't think he could handle that at the moment with nightmares fresh in the corners of his vision. He forced out a chuckle and let his head hang down. Warmth began to bloom from his cheek and the numbness of fear began to melt from it, and he brought his hand up absentmindedly to rub at it. It wasn’t anything new, to have his brother slap, punch or kick him, to wake his lazy ass up. He supposed it was his fault for letting himself be such a heavy sleeper anyway.

An exasperated huff had him looking back up at his brother who not his hands resting on his hips. Even in his night clothes he looked threatening and reeked of an inherent danger that told other monsters to back off. You think Sans would have grown accustomed to it, but he had done nothing more than become even more terrified of him. Hey, at least he was predictable sometimes. Except now that is. Sans watched his brother with wary eyes as he simply stood their examining him silently. Usually this would be about when his boss would either beat him or force him down and fuck his mouth, or any other hole he could find, didn’t matter to him either way as long as he was causing pain.

Papyrus shook his head and walked towards the door, breaking the silence as he left, “I don’t have the patience for you tonight. God, why do you have to make even the simplest of things so difficult for me?”

_Why are you such a burden?_ Sans mind supplied in translation to shorter terms. Typically he could brush those words off or push them down, as he already knew he was a burden to his brother, but it was the way that it was said that really struck Sans. It hurt worse than any physical abuse his brother had ever given him. Papyrus had managed to sound so tired yet so cold and detached in that one sentence that Sans felt like there was ice lumping in his soul. It was obvious that his brother did not particularly liked him, but he never had thought that it had gone so far. When the door slammed shut, Sans moved his hand from his cheek to his mouth to muffle the small sobs that he couldn’t contain. Man, he really was fucking weak, wasn’t he?

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Papyrus was leaning outside the door of his pathetic brother, trying to sort out his thoughts. Seriously, why could he not have been born with a stronger brother, or why couldn’t he at least try to put in the effort to be so, so that Papyrus didn’t have to spend so much time worrying over his sorry ass. He had tried everything he could think of to try and toughen that sorry sack of shit up, and nothing seemed to every work. Papyrus growled to himself when he heard quiet sobs filtering through the door. He listened for a few moments, his anger dissolving slightly. He tightened his grip on the door knob for a fraction of a second before pushing himself from the wall and heading back to his bedroom.

It wasn’t his fault that his brother was so fucking weak. Was it?

~O~O~O~O~O~O~OO~O~O~O~OO~O~

Sans was already sitting up in his bed when Papyrus flung the door open at 6 am, the wood knocking loudly against the wall. Surprisingly it didn’t leave a dent in the wall, but Sans flinched violently as he was shaken from his daze. Instead of shouting his usual insults to get his brother moving, Papyrus regarded him for a few moments before leaving the room. Sans was glad to not have to face him more than absolutely necessary. He would do whatever his brother wanted of him as long as it required minimal to no communication.

Boss’ words from the previous night (or was it morning?) still hung heavily over him and he wanted nothing more than to avoid the tall skeleton for a couple of days. He would come crawling back of course, as he usually did, but he needed some time to himself. He moved slowly in getting ready, shuffling from place to place idly and even taking time to try and sniff out some clean clothing. When he heard the front door open and slam shut again he decided to finally go downstairs.

Without his brother in the house he teleported straight to the kitchen to rummage around for something to eat. The fridge was full of leftovers, but all of them were marked _Boss_ so he did not dare touch them, and everything else also had his brother’s name on it. Guess it was the cheap scraps from Grillby’s yet again, as he would not be paid for a couple of days. The meagre cut Papyrus let him keep was never enough to keep him through the week, no matter how frugal he was. He pulled the few remaining gold coins, counting them, and sighed as he dumped them back into the pocket of his shorts.

He teleported to the woods behind his sentry station, but he was hit with a wave of dizziness and leaned against a tree for a few moments. He had to fight the darkness creeping into the corners of his vision and his mouth pooled with magicky bile. He can’t remember the last time he was actually able to eat a substantial meal, and what little magic that was left in his soul was practically roiling from the effort of teleporting. If his brother actually knew about the full extent of his abilities, he was sure he would be fed more than he was, but he would probably find the best way to use them to his advantage. Yeah, he could have probably beat his brother back years ago if he could ever gain the will to actually hurt him. 

He was glad to have been hidden by the thick foliage of the trees, because when he peered into the clearing with his sentry station, there were a couple of monsters already there. He glanced around for his brother before stepping out into the open and up to his post. He snarled and glared at the Rabbit monster that was looking at him funny, and she shuddered and walked away stiffly. The other monster didn’t even try to look at him as he _cleared_ out as well. Sans laughed softly at the half-baked joke. Sitting down at the stool behind the counter, he took one more look around and let his chin fall onto his chest.

 He was able to doze easily until sharp quick footsteps snapped him from it and hear his brother from the woods, probably talking to Undyne or one of the dogs. The normal anxiety struck him along with an abnormal amount of fear. It was not as if he didn’t have a healthy amount of fear for his brother on a normal today, but recently it seemed to be escalating as he started to feel more and more terrified and cautious with his brother. He did not even give it a second thought and teleported back into the woods and out of sight.

He saw that he was right when he saw Papyrus stalk into the clearing with Undyne beside him. Sans stayed pressed close to the trunk of the tree, ignoring the dizziness that made him wobble on his feet. He watched as Papyrus scoffed and stopped in front of the sentry station, “God, that whelp of my brother can’t even make it to his damn post on time! He’s so useless! I can’t find anything to do with him!”

“Why do you even bother to keep him around? I would have killed him or sent him off to be killed!”

“I wonder the same thing myself all the time” Papyrus’ eyes darkened as he glared at the empty sentry station as if it had purposefully offended him. He huffed and turned around on his heel, “If he’s off at fucking Grillby’s I’m going to beat that useless fuck into dust.”

After they were gone, Sans sighed and emerged from the trees. Without even thinking about it, he rolled up his left sleeve and started to chip at the bones again. He sat down at his post again, only moving to check his puzzles and traps every couple of hours. He did not see Papyrus for the rest of his shift, for which he was grateful. The house was empty when he arrived home that night which gave him a bit of time to relax before his brother came home.

He wandered into the kitchen and peered in the fridge, which had not changed from the morning, so he just sighed and trudged his way up the stairs. He was starting to feel awfully weak and he did not know how much longer he would be able to go without food. He had started to refrain from the use of any excess magic or energy thus he was forced to walk home, which exhausted him physically. He figured it would be best to try and get some sleep until his brother came home because then there is no way he would be able to. He stopped in front of Papyrus’ door and looked down the long hallway to his room for a moment before going into his brother’s room. The walk was way too far, and he would be out before his brother got off his late shift. He landed heavily onto the large mattress, kicking his shoes off before burrowing himself under the covers. Lack of food had really exhausted him, and he wasn’t prepared to fall asleep so quickly and deeply.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~OO~O~O~O~OO~O

He was woken up by the sudden jerk of somebody yanking him up by the hood of his jacket. He yelped in pain as he was lifted ruthlessly into the air, so the collar of his jacket pressed painfully against his neck bones. He blanched at the short sharp sound of his jacket tearing but thankfully not fully severing. He looked slowly up at his brother, who looked absolutely furious with him. God was he in for one hell of a beating. He should have known better than to hide today and then go and sleep in his brother’s bed and dirty up the sheets with his filth. He was thrown roughly back onto the bed and his head cracked painfully against the wall.

Dazed, he didn’t notice the hand on his ankle until he was roughly yanked off the bed and onto the floor. Papyrus loomed over him in a very familiar way, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, whelp?”

Sans could not help but cower, “I-I’m sorry boss I d-didn’t mean to, I was just so tired and-“

“Enough!” Papyrus nudged him with his foot roughly, pushing Sans onto his back before bringing his foot down on his shoulder, “You can’t do anything right can you? You can’t even be at your fucking sentry post on time, and you mean to tell me that me finding you in my bed was an ‘accident’?”

_You’re such a Burden._

“B-boss please it w-was!” Sans braced his hands against the large boot and tried to push it off of him, but lack of food made him too weak to even budge. He could hear his bones creaking under the pressure, but his boss new better than to actually break him too much.

“I’m sure it was”, Papyrus said scarily calm, “But since you’re going to be in my bed, you might as well be useful for something.”

“Wha-?” Sans nearly screamed as Papyrus’ magic gripped his soul and lifted him. He was thrown back onto the bed, magic shifting to hold his wrists above his head. His boss was over him in no time and he could do nothing but kick at the larger monster, but they didn’t even slow him down as he tore his shorts from his hips. Sans sobbed and tried in vain to cover himself as Papyrus began to scratch painfully at his exposed pelvis. He screamed when his coccyx was grabbed roughly, claw scratching over the hyper-sensitive surface. Sans tried to kick at him again, but magic gripped at his ankles and pushed his legs up and open.

He could feel hot tears on his cheeks as he pleaded, “Please Boss!! Please stop!”

Papyrus growled lowly and pushed and scratched at his iliac crest, “Shut up! Be useful for once and make me something to fuck.”

Even if he wanted to, Sans didn’t even have the energy to do such a thing. He gasped as magic gripped at his soul and tried to force it into action. Red magic flickered around his pelvis for a few moments before fizzing out completely. Papyrus frowned and stopped all motion. He sat back a bit and regarded Sans thoughtfully, “When is the last time you ate?”

If he could shrug he would have instead he just shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.  There was moment of stillness before Papyrus was on him again, lifting his hoodie and sweater up over his chest. Sans lost any semblance of composure when a clawed hand reached into his rib cage and snatched his soul. If he thought that had been unbearable, when Papyrus started forcing some of his magic into him it was ten times worse. If he had vocal chords, he was sure they would be absolutely shredded by the volume of his screaming. Eventually, the pain receded enough to be bearable and he became aware of the wetness of a pussy between his legs.

He couldn’t stop the sobs that tore from him, both from shame and the nearly overwhelming amount of pain. Wherever Papyrus handled him felt like he was being stabbed with several small knives due to lingering sensitivity. He couldn’t do anything but give a pathetic moan and shake his head as two phalanges where shoved into him mercilessly. He tried to hide his face in his shoulder as he whined, “Please stop, Boss, please . . . Boss . . . hurts.”

Of course, his pleading went un-headed as he felt the fingers slip from him only to be replaced with the blunt tip of a cock forcing its way into him. He felt his entire body rattle as he went stiff, but otherwise remained silent. He gave up with struggling and resigned him to having a blank staring contest with the wall as his brother pounded into him painfully. He didn’t even flinch when he felt a large hand cover his neck vertebrae and wrap around them ruthlessly. He lost track of how long his brother kept at him, but to him it seemed like forever until his brother come inside of him. It wasn’t until after that that he actually let himself lose consciousness.

~~O~OO~O~O~O~OO~O~O~OO~O~O~O~

Sans woke from his dreamless sleep sometime in the early morning. He did not get up immediately, even though he heard his brother banging around in the kitchen downstairs. He knew he should start moving himself, but, with the pain wracking its way through his body, he did not think he could bring him to face the day, especially not if it involved his brother. He threw his arm over his eyes to block out the harsh light coming in through his window. He wished there was some way that he could please his brother enough to at least get a _good job_ out of him, but he knew there was no way that would ever happen. He was so useless anyway.

He was so lost in thought that he didn’t hear the stomping up the stairs and down the fall until it was nearly outside his door. His brother was coming to wake him up for the day. Sans panicked, some form of adrenaline spiking through him and he was able to somehow gather enough energy to teleport from the room without even thinking of a destination.

~O~O~O~O~O~OO~O~O~OO~O~O~O~OO~O~

Papyrus slammed the door open to an empty bedroom. He looked around and noted that yes, Sans was nowhere to be seen. He found that unusual because Sans would never be up until Papyrus came and forced him awake. Papyrus had not slept all night, so he figured he would have seen it if his brother had left through the front door. He stalked over to the window and saw that it was shut and locked tightly as ever. He frowned and went back down into the main room. That ungrateful little fuck! Papyrus had let him sleep in and even went through the trouble of making him breakfast, and he was not even home.

He went back into the kitchen and started to pack the leftovers into containers. He had made a ton of food and he would hate for it to go to waste. He went to the fridge with the containers and yanked the door open. He practically flung the leftovers into the machine and was about to slam the door closed again when he noticed the multitude of uneaten leftovers. They were all marked with his name from when he had taken the containers into the guard station for lunch and they all remained untouched by his brother. He had never really realized it before, but sans never ate around him and the leftovers in the fridge had such a tendency to pile up.

“You fucking idiot!”

~O~O~O~O~O~O~OO~O~O~O~O

Papyrus tucked his hands deeper into the pockets of his orange hoodie, searching for the small box of matches he carried. He grumbled and started to pat around the pockets of his shorts before finding them. He pulled out the tiny box with a spider logo printed on it and plucked one of the matches from its home. He lit it with a quick strike before lifting it to the cigarette dangling loosely between his teeth. He took a few quick puffs to light it before dragging a long breath of smoke into his rib cage. He continued on with his casual walk, letting the heat of the cigarette warm his bones.

He looked up at the ceiling of the cave and all of the pseudo-stars hanging up there for all the monsters to look at to their hearts content. They really were a pretty thing to look at, but they never changed and it got kind of boring after a while. He huffed. Sans had told him he saw a weird flash over this way and had practically begged him to take the long walk to check him out. Sometimes he really wished he could say no to his bro without feeling absolutely guilty.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he did not manage to notice the bright red lump laying back against a tree. He tripped over a leg but managed to catch himself on a tree trunk. He thanked Toriel that the trees grew so close together. He spun around and was surprised to see a strange monster slumped against the tree behind him. The small monster glared up at him, but it gave way to some weird kind of recognition and his hands began to shake.

Papyrus would say that he was shocked to see how similar this skeleton was to Sans, but they were almost exactly identical except for a few differences. First of instead of normal straight teeth, this monster’s were sharp and jagged and one had been replaced with a gold tooth. He was also covered in an alarming amount of cracks, chips, and cuts and his bones seemed kind of thin and brittle compared to his bros. The most jarring feature was his eyes, which somehow managed to look dead along with scared, angry, and wary all at once. Even though he was so beaten up and apparently weak, if the shaking of his hands was anything to go by, there was an aura of danger and untrustworthiness about him.

Just when he realized that the two of them were having a long and very awkward staring contest the silence was interrupted, “PAPY!! OH MY GOODNESS, DON’T JUST STARE! WE HAVE TO HELP HIM!!”

He was barely able to catch his brother before he reached the new monster, and in doing so he failed to see the violent flinch from all of the sudden movement, “Sans!! No, he could be dangerous. Don’t touch him, just let me take care of this.”

Sans had caught the strange behavior of the monster though and was watching him closely, “Papy, let me go! He’s hurt.”

The monster was looking between them seeming utterly lost and confused at the scene unfolding before him. He had pulled his legs up towards him, obviously in an attempt to protect him. Papyrus noticed the lost expression on his face that was replaced with realization, and then finally with anger. He didn’t lash out though. Instead he tucked his hands between his legs and body and he seemed to almost be on the verge of tears.

He noticed also, the old dust stain on his hoodie and he held sans tighter against him. Either this monster had been around death, or had killed a monster, any way you slice it though, Papyrus was not taking any chances involving his brother. He turned around and kneeled down to his brothers level, taking him by the shoulders, “Listen Sans, I was you to go home and get some medical supplies and food ready. I’ll check him over and bring him home once I know he’s safe, okay?”

If sans caught the double meaning in that statement, he didn’t let on as he simply nodded and ran off in the direction of their home. Papyrus sighed lightly to himself, stood, and turned around to face the small skeleton huddled on the ground. He tried to glare defiantly up at the tall skeleton, but it wasn’t pulled off in the way he probably hoped. Papyrus took a few steps forward until he was standing over the monster, who began to shake more violently. Otherwise he remained completely unchanged and Papyrus tucked that information away for later. He crouched down to be more at his level before speaking, “so, you wanna tell me exactly who you are, and where you came from?”

“Fuck you.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a couple parts in this chapter that im not a fan of because of how stiff the style is but all in all im satisfied. There's some serious body horror about midway through this chapter so brace yourselves for that.

Papyrus stared down the monster in front of him, who was fidgeting. Neither of them spoke for a long time as the just studied each other. When Papyrus noticed the rather large crack on his skull he cringed internally, that couldn’t have been pleasant. His dust-stained hoodie was torn in a couple of places along with his shorts, and his sneakers where worn and dull as well. If they were for a flesh monster, they would not provide any protection against the harsh snow.  He had not stopped shaking, but his glare remained steady even if it was sullied by fear and anxiety. When Papyrus moved to take a step towards him, he flinched violently back, his head knocking against the trunk of the tree.

“No, don’t fucking t-touch me!” His glare had all but morphed into pure fear. Papyrus figured anyone as weak and injured as him would be afraid to be approached by a strange monster. However, he did not stop until he was kneeling in front of the monster, resigning to the uncomfortable wetness at the knees of his shorts. He held out his hands in what he hoped was a placating manner. The monster tried to track his movement as he pushed himself back against the tree. His entire posture was stiff and closed off. His tears that had dried up pooled at the corners of his sockets again, “G-go away! L-leave me the fuck alone!”

“Y’see, if I do that then my bro will just get mad at me, also I can’t stand the thought of you dying out here when we could have saved you”, Papyrus smiled lazily, “Would it help if I told you my name? It’s Papyrus.”

The skeleton monster stared at him for a few moments before he mumble something. Papyrus leaned in closer to him, “What was that?”

“I said I fucking know”, the tone was only half-heartedly aggressive as the monster broke his staring contest with him, “I know cause I have a Papyrus back where I came from.”

That was all the confirmation that Papyrus needed for the pieces to fall into place and he let his hands fall into his head, whispering, “Sans”

“Y-yeah.”

“Well shit just got s-“

“Quiet!!”

Somehow the new Sans got the energy to lunge forward and slap his palm over Papyrus’ mouth with a soft clank. Papyrus almost gagged, he reeked of sweat and sex. When they settled into stillness, Papyrus heard it. There was the sound of a couple of sets of footsteps and laughing and talking filtering through the trees. He recognized it as a couple of the Royal Guardsmen making their rounds for the morning. He relaxed immediately, but edgy Sans (as Papyrus dubbed him in his mind) stiffened and his shaking grew more pronounced as he pressed his hand tighter against Papyrus’ teeth. He didn’t seem to notice his breath coming in shorter gasping breaths, and if he did he just stayed still, listening to the monsters pass.

Papyrus had not been looking directly at the new Sans when the guards’ laughter finally faded into silence, and he was surprised to feel a weight drop heavily on him. He turned his down to see the small monster leaning completely on him, unconscious. He must have used up the last of his energy, practically tackling Papyrus. Well at least if the little menace was unconscious then it made his job easier.

O~O~O~O~OO~O~O~OO~O~O~O~OO~O~

Papyrus dug through the pile of papers on the dresser for probably the third time, deciding to not acknowledge all of the strange scrawling that he could not read. Just as with the first and second time, there was no note, no message, no _hint_ of where sans had run off to. Granted, it had only been a few hours since he disappeared, but with how strange he had been acting, Papyrus would not put it passed the idiot to go out and get himself killed. How bad would that make Papyrus look, if it got out that he couldn’t even keep his pathetic, loyal to a fault, brother in line? He scratched at his skull with gloved claws as he paced back and forth in the room trying to think of a way to track Sans down.

He grimaced at the feeling of his magic roiling in his chest, and rubbed over his ribs. It was always a strange feeling he got when Sans went missing or was in danger. He had always chalked it up to anger that Sans was going to make him look weak just by being related to someone as pathetic as him. Suddenly the pain spiked and he had to lean against the dresser. He grunted and ground his teeth, but the pain remained for a good few minutes before it stopped completely.

He stood thinking for a few moments and rubbed slowly at his chest. After a few moments he sighed tiredly and let his head drop into his hands.

“God fucking dammit”, he shook his head, “sans you useless fuck!”

~O~O~O~OO~OO~O~OO~O~O~OO~O~O

Darkness coiled around him, gently caressing his bones, tickling and tingling. It wasn’t unpleasant exactly, but something about it sent crawling across the scarred surface of his bones. He turned his head to the side and was not surprised at all to see more void. He would have tried to scream or cry out for help if it did not seem like just too much effort at that point. He tried to lift his arm to see if it could be seen, and of course, if talking was too much, there was no way he would be able to move it. Then, as he was about to let himself drift back into complete unconscious, a quick flash of white had him fully aware again.

He felt panic rise in his chest, and his pupils rolled around in his sockets as he tried to refind the source of movement. His breathing became more erratic but there was nothing there. It wasn’t right. He wasn’t supposed to feel so at peace in this place, wherever it was. Something lurked near him, and he couldn’t find it, but it was there. He tried to scream again, only to be rewarded with a hoarse rasping that sent pain through his chest and up his neck vertebrae.

In his distraction he did not notice the dark tendrils forming around him and starting to filter their way through his ribs, until he tried to sit up. They tightened around him almost instantly, pulling him down roughly against some unseen solid surface. Now he really screamed, his entire body setting alight with pain as if someone had dumped into a vat of burning gasoline. The darkness that had made a home began to expand and push against the inside of the structure. He felt tears on his cheeks. There was no way he would have known they were there if they didn’t cut excruciating paths down his face. The pain was so sudden and everywhere that he did not even know how to react beyond thrashing harder.

The void did not stop expanding though, and he heard creaking and cracking from his spine and ribs and _holy fuck._ He watched through bleary vision, as ribcage cracked upwards like the fingers of some cruel beast. What looked like tar was wrapped around each rib now, pushing small hairline fractures into them. He about lost it completely when it spread out from his chest to his mouth and pelvis. His screams where cut off and all he could do was gargle weakly as he was absolutely violated in a way he had never felt before. The more he thrashed the tighter the hold became on him and at some point his pubis bones had spread from each other with a series of painful cracks. Eventually all energy drained from him and he slumped, trying to breath, but only coughing and sputtering around the shit in his mouth.

_(Oh sans, it's good to see you alive and . . . not so well.)_

If he had the energy, Sans would have screamed, would have fought, or spat that tar right back in the bastards forming face. But all he could do was lay there open and pathetic underneath a phantom that was not supposed to exist. He know he looked so vulnerable, trembling and crying. However, there was no use trying to hide it from a monster that spent years torturing and studying him. He flinched when a cold, incomplete hand was placed on his cheek in a gentle and almost loving way. Sans knew much better than that.

If he could speak he would have told the spectre to fuck off, but he did not think it would be very convincing anyway. Gaster leaned close to him, face directly in his, with that stupid grin on his face, 

_(Not very friendly now are we?)_

Sans tried to ebb the flow of his tears, but it really was a vain attempt. Instead, he resigned to turning his head away from the _horror_ of a monster hovering above him. He was always so weak. He thought he had forgotten and left Gaster in the dust, when he fell into the core. He didn’t want this anymore. He just wanted things to be like they were after Gaster’s, and before his brother’s abuse. Even if everyone else hated him, at least one person adored and loved him. He learned earlier enough that he can’t rely on permanence of anything good, only that there will be more bad.

Gaster’s grin widened in what could be described as a satisfying way.

_(You’re mine.)_

~O~OO~O~O~OO~O~O~O~OO~OO~OO~O~O

Sans had spent a good hour working on the new Sans after Papyrus had explained to him about the multiple universes. He had seemed to take it well, and he just nodded and then set to work on the hurt monster with help from his brother. The spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out what was scarring and what was recent. The large crack on the crown of his skull was particularly discerning to Sans, and when Papyrus said there was nothing to be done about it, he just sighed sadly and put a large adhesive bandage over it. Both of them had seen the chipping at the inside of his radius and ulna and Sans gave Papyrus a few worried looks as he covered them as well.

After they had finished, the had lain him down on the couch and covered him with several of their spare blankets before moving to the kitchen. Sans did not waste any time before he started cooking, saying that _a good meal would help them settle_. Neither of them said anything else. The silence that settled over the kitchen was comfortable and was only interrupted by the typical sounds of cooking. Papyrus fiddled with the honey bottle in his hands, taking sips occasionally, between watching his brother cook and thinking about his brother’s alternate universe version laying down in their living room. After they ate, they fell into a familiar feeling of routine as they both sat in the kitchen, talking quietly.

Sans was in the middle of telling a story about Alphys and him when he was interrupted by a piercing scream from the living room. The clattering of their chairs was drowned out by the noise of their guest, and they both gave each other panicked looks as they rushed into the other room. The other Sans was on the couch, thrashing and sobbing between screams. Tears were spilling down his cheeks and his chest was glowing bright with whatever scraps of magic he had left. His face was screwed up as if he were being tortured. Papyrus stood in the doorway to the living room, dumbstruck for a few moments, but Sans kept going without hesitation and began trying to shake him away.

Papyrus moved to hover behind his younger brother, who seemed to be slowly calming down his inta-universal twin. His sobs quieted down into whimpers before he woke up fully, expression open and lost. His eyes fell on the brothers and instantly his gaze hardened. He knew that they saw him and it was obvious by the red staining his entire face. He glared at them and sat up stiffly, “What the fuck? Why the hell are you hovering over me?”

He sat up slowly, his arms shaking visibly. He shrugged off any attempts from blue Sans to help him with an abrasive growl. His entire body was trembling and he looked like he might pass out again at any moment so blue Sans practically ran back into the kitchen, emerging quickly with a plate of leftover tacos. When he held them out for the other Sans to take, he deflated as he just stared at them distrustfully. He looked up at Papyrus then back to the Sans sitting in front of him.

“Red, you have to eat something! You’re running so low on magic! When’s the last time you ate?”

“Red? What the fuck kinda stupid name is that?” He didn’t answer the second question but took the plate anyway. He sniffed at one cautiously, and then took a small bite. Finding nothing wrong with it, he started to eat with more gusto.

“Well . . . yeah I thought it was better than trying to call us both Sans. It seems confusing you know?”

Red grumbled and shook his head, “Whatever you say, Blueberry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have too much to say about this chapter, but updates should come sometime in the next couple of days. If you liked it leave a comment, and if you want more my tumblr is hey-there-fey@tumblr.com,


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uf! Papyrus reflects on some of his actions, and of course Red would have some nightmares. and backstory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i found out the the song "Earth" by Sleeping at Last is a really good fit for whats going on in this story so if you can take a listen, ill be throwing lyrics from it in where i think its relevant.

_Fault lines tremble underneath my glass house, but I put it out of my mind long enough to call it courage to live without a life line. I bend the definition of faith to exonerate my blind eye. Till the sirens sound, I’m safe._

He felt so _weak._

Papyrus sat on the couch, looking at the impeccably clean living room, since Sans was not there to make a mess of it all. He should have been happy, right? His _useless_ brother was gone, and he would never have to deal with him! At least, until the pathetic trash decided to come crawling back on his hands and knees to him. He scoffed at the idea, and his lips would have curled if he had anything. It almost seemed like weakness was something contagious that his brother had spread to him over the years. He looked up at the television and the stand it sat on.

He stood up and walked over to it slowly, eyes focused on the picture frame lay, face down as it typically was. There was an unspoken agreement between his brother and him to not touch the photo and leave it hidden so neither of them had to look at it. Even so they had not the guts to actually move to thing to throw it away or store it somewhere else. He even remembered the day that had lead up to point where the photo ended up in the permanent state that it was currently in. It was surprisingly Sans that had flipped and it was even more surprising that he had not yet broke and done something with it. Of course, his pathetic older brother had come crawling back to him as usual, but he was never the same as he was before.

His hand trembled as he reached out and wrapped his fingers around it, noting how it seemed smaller than he remembered. He flipped it over and looked down at the photograph nestled behind the glass. It was a picture of a young Papyrus, sitting in Sans’ lap as the older brother held him tightly with a big grin.  His younger self had a very pure and innocent smile and his eyes seemed brighter than he could recall them currently.  He did not notice the sad smile creep across his face initially but when he did a sense of forced disgust washed over him. He slammed the photo back down, ignoring the sharp glass cutting into the bones of his hands.

He wasn’t an idiot, he actually prided himself on being perceptive before recent events. However, now, he was not so sure since he had failed to see how much had changed between him and his only family in the world. It was funny. All it took was one fight for everything to change between them and for Sans to withdraw from him.

~O~O~O~OO~O~O~OO~O~OO~O~O

_“You need to train more”_

_Sans looked up at him from where he was slowly picking through his dinner. He seemed to have not had much of an appetite for the past week, but Papyrus did not think it was much of his problem. His fork that was halfway lifted to his mouth dropped back onto his plate as he studied his younger brother with apprehension clear in his white pinprick eyes, “What’re you talkin’ about?”_

_“Well, what if you were ever attacked by other monsters and I happen to not be there to save you?”_

_“Pap, you and I both know that I am perfectly capable of defending myself.”_

_He scoffed, “Teleporting is not a respectful tactic.”_

_Sans just stared at him for a few moments before speaking, “Well it works, and I fuckin’ feel like sticking around to see which of us would get our asses handed to us.”_

_Papyrus frowned, his eyes seeming to darken, “Do you not have any dignity?”_

_“I threw dignity out the window trying to raise and protect you from being killed.”_

_They both knew how much Sans had given up to keep Papyrus safe and healthy. He had explained it to his younger brother when he was old enough, and was extremely relieved when he simply accepted it and continued on with his training with Undyne. Now, however, with Papyrus becoming more aware of just how undignified and unmotivated his brother was he could not help but see how his brother was weaker. He stood to loom above his brother and crossed his arms across his chest, “Yeah, you sold your self out as a cheap whore, because you were too lazy to get stronger.”_

_They both knew that it was nearly impossible for to have been able to find time to train on top of the multiple jobs he had been working at the time._

_Sans looked up at his younger brother now, as if it were the first time he realized how much larger and stronger his brother was than him. He also seemed to realize that Papyrus was capable and willing to hit him and seriously injure him. Despite this, he still steeled himself and stood up, trying not to make a show of stepping away from him, but Papyrus noticed the hints of concern and what could only be called concern hiding in his brother’s expression._

_“I never had to keep you, bro. I could have left your ass to rot and die!”_

_“Oh, but you didn’t, and it seems as if I was nothing but a deterrence, just as you are to me now. Funny how things change isn’t it?”_

_“What the fuck do you mean?”_

_Papyrus’ fist thudded loudly against the wall of the cramped kitchen as he moved to crowd Sans into the corner, “I mean” He leaned down so he could look his brother directly in his eyes, “that, I do not know how you fail to comprehend that your weakness is what keeps me from become the head of the Royal guard.”_

_He stood straight and began to pace the kitchen slowly, as if he were some agitated deadly animal. One that held an unnerving amount of coldness and intelligence about them. Sans pushed the chills down and glared at his brother, “Like hell I do, you should be strong enough, but you can’t get the fuckin’ guts to take down Undyne.”_

_Papyrus scoffed, “As if, even if she’s a stronger fighter, it’s well known that I am by far the best tactician and leader, is it not? But”, he paused to crowd up against Sans again, taking the collar of his shirt in his clawed hand, “Who the hell wants to follow a leader whose own brother is too weak and pathetic to follow orders.”_

_Sans growl stopped dead in his throat as if he just had an epiphany. That he was just realizing the reason why Papyrus couldn’t move forward, and it was his fault. Papyrus smirked as he watched Sans’ face drop. He dropped his brother and stalked towards the door from the kitchen to the living room. He stopped there and turned to face Sans, who was in the process of picking himself up._

_“You will be starting patrols for the Royal Guard in two days, I will be your boss from this point on.”_

_Neither of them said anything else and the only sound was that of the front door slamming before silence engulfed the house._

~O~O~OO~O~O~OO~O~O~OO~O~~OO~

That was the last time that Papyrus could remember Sans ever calling him anything besides Boss and when he had come home from a walk nothing had changed except that the only picture in the living room had been set downward and Sans’ bedroom door was closed and locked. At the time Papyrus had scoffed and muttered something about being disgusted before retreating to his room. Now, Papyrus felt anger, but it was not directed towards his brother but at himself. He looked down at his hand in apathy as it bled profusely where some glass had cut down to the marrow.

He had to pull himself together quickly, before other monsters picked up on his distress when he goes on patrol. He did not need to deal with weak monsters thinking they could take him, the Great Papyrus, as if. He was strong, and was definitely not worried about his brother.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~OO~O~O~O~O~OO~O~

Red had eaten everything that Blueberry put in front of him, and he would have eaten more if Papyrus had not come in and stopped his younger brother from putting more on his plate. Now, he sat on the couch between the two of them rubbing at his chest where his soul had swollen with the large amount of magic he had consumed. They watched TV for a few hours before Papyrus retired to his room, followed soon by Red and Blueberry.

The more naïve Sans had insisted on them sharing his bed, which was something that Red had argued on, but he was still weak and it was easy for Blueberry to pull him up the stairs. He threw Red some loose shorts and shirt, not even thinking of his modesty as he began to strip down. Red blushed and turned away before slowly stripping down and changing into the nightclothes he had been given. They were a bit loose on him as Blueberry’s height was not nearly as stunted as his own. He pulled at the hem of it nervously as he watched the bubbly skeleton launch himself into bed after turning off the lights and turning a night light on.

He was dragged onto the bed and forced to lay down into the mounds of soft pillows and blankets. He did not even question it as he felt thick-boned arms wrap around him and snuggle against him. Red chuckled quietly. Of course the kid would be a fuckin’ cuddler. He would not admit it to anyone, but in the fast growing warmth of the bed along with the comfort of sleeping somewhere halfway decent he fell asleep in an embarrassingly short amount of time.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~OO~O~O~OO~O~O~

_It was fuzzy in the corners of his vision as the dream came into focus around him. He turned his head to both sides, assessing that he was in the workshop behind their house. He groaned at the bright light that shone through the small window and directly into his eyes. When he went to lift his hand to rub at his eyes but he jerked awake when he found that he could not lift his hands more than an inch from the ground. He strained his neck painfully to see the iron manacles holding his wrists and ankles to the dirty floor of the workshop._

_He let his head fall back and tried to calm his rapid breathing, but found that it almost sent him into a more elevated state of panic. He would scream if he had not been horribly beaten the last time he had done so. Something about waking the neighbors and causing a scene. The last time his brother had tied him down had been one of the least pleasant experiences of his life and he was afraid to think of what was his brother had planned for him this time. His ribs and back hurt, meaning that he had been lying there, restrained, for at least an hour. He tried to think about something else until he saw the old blood stain on the wall he got caught up in thinking who else Papyrus had tortured in here._

_He was shaken from his thoughts when the door banged open, and he whipped his head around to watch his brother, who stood in the door silhouetted by the harsh light from outside. Sans whimpered, knowing that he sounded much like a caged animal. Even so, he could not stop the whines and fearful gasps or the way that he jerked against his bonds as the looming skeleton approached him. He didn’t say anything, just bent down and began to slowly stroke at one of Sans’ ribs._

_Sans cried out, “Sto- what the fuck . . . no!! Do-“_

_His pleas melted into a scream as a cold gloved hand gripped one of his lower ribs and twisted it downwards. His entire body trembled and stiffened as the sound of his bones grinding together painfully wrenched through the air. It stayed in that position, wracking Sans’ body with continuous waves of pain. He panted and trembled as his soul pulsed trying to reach out to defend its body, but he pushed away the urge so as to not harm his brother._

_Papyrus made a small satisfied noise and stroked across the rib idly, but instead of being comforting in any way it only hurt. He took a hold of the adjacent rib and gripped it tightly, causing panic to well up in Sans’ chest._

_“Do you understand why I’m doing this?”_

_Sans couldn’t muster the will to speak so he just shook his head back and forth and released a gurgling moan. Papyrus hummed quietly, “Well I’m sure you can figure it out on your own.”_

_He gave the rib a quick, jerking twist downwards and sans could not help but to shriek as it felt like someone had wedged a hot chisel between his spine and his rib. He could not stop the repeated mumbling of “Please stop” and “It hurts please.”_

_Papyrus leaned over him, gently taking his chin in his clawed hand. He forced his brother to look him in the eyes, “I’m not done with you.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry im just really really messed up!! i promise, happiness will happen. eventually . . . but if you liked it or have anything you want to say please let me know with a comment.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We shall smash papayas together. also there is fllluuffffffff fffllluuufff!!!!!! ouo

_I dig 'til my shovel tells a secret/Swear to the earth that I will keep it/Brush off the dirt/And let my change of heart occur.  
Sold soon after the appraisal/The hammer struck the auction table/Louder than anything I've ever heard._

Blueberry woke slowly, but the pitch black outside told him that it was still extremely early and he wondered what had woken him up. A small whine caught his attention as well as the tightening of arms around his ribs suddenly and painfully enough to cause him to cry out. Another small whimper sounded right next to his ear, sounding as if he were terrified and in agony. Blue forced himself to turn around and face Red, who buried his face into the front of his night shirt. He rubbed at Red’s back, trying to shush him and calm him down, but the smaller of them only trembled and cried against him. Used to his brother’s nightmares, Blue whispered quietly in his ear, “Red please calm down, it’s okay. It’s just a dream.”

He continued to run his hands up and down Red’s back, but when his fingers brushed against the bottom ribs, Red screamed and began to thrash. He managed to fall from the bed, hitting Blueberry in the process, and laid on the floor tense and shaking. Pleads and apologies fell from his mouth and his eyes where wide as if he were awake. Blue stared, entranced by the red magic pouring from one of his sockets in flames and tears. The flames where strange as they not only consisted of bright red but a deeper blood red as well. He was moving between sobbing, screaming, and begging, practically to the point of hyperventilation. Blueberry could do nothing but stare as his brother had never reacted like this and now he was at a complete loss.

“P-please stop!! It . . . hurts. It hurts please.” The words were almost mumbled into nonsense, but the skeleton on the bed could hear them clearly enough. He felt his own body start to shake and rattle as he watched his counterpart suffer through some kind of twisted memory.

The door banged against the wall, startling Blue enough to jump from the bed and kneel beside Red. His Brother stood in the doorway and took in the scene of Red thrashing and crying on the floor and Blue kneeling beside him, scared and with his own tears cutting blue trails down the bone of his face. Red’s magic was pouring from his socket in waves. It reminded Papyrus startlingly of blood. He practically ran over to the two small skeletons and fell onto his knees on the other side of Red. He looked up briefly to examine his brother and noted the small crack now on his cheek from where Red had slapped him. It would heal. He looked back down at Red who had stopped screaming and was now awake and hyperventilating. It was obvious that he was falling into a panic attack.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Papyrus grit out between clenched teeth as he moved quickly. He had never dealt with somebody in this kind of situation before, but he had to do something. When he reached out to gently touch Red’s arm small hands latched onto his lower arm painfully. He scrabbled against Papyrus for a few moments, not even half aware of what he was doing, before he was in his lap and had both of his hands gripping onto the bones of his arm. His breathing was blocked by Papyrus’ night shirt though, so he pulled the small skeleton up so he could be cradled against his chest and guide him through his attack.

“C’mon Red, you’re okay, I’ve got you. You’re safe with me and Blue. It’s okay, just breathe for me.”

The wheezing gasps melted into sobs as Red became more and more aware of his surroundings. He let go of Papyrus’ arm in favor of gripping at his shirt. If he cared about the tears staining it he didn’t say anything, just held Red and shared a few glances with Blue. He rubbed gently at Red’s arm and stood up, lifting the small skeleton with him. Small hands tightened in the fabric of his t-shirt. Small whimpering sobs still shaking themselves from his bundle. Papyrus gave a short sad sigh, “Alright, Red, you’re sleeping with me tonight so I can keep an eye on you. Blue will you be okay?”

He nodded, “Yeah Papy, I want to stay here.”

As much as Blue would like to sleep in the safety of his brother’s presence, he did not think he could stand to deal with another ordeal that night if Red were to have one. He crawled into his own bed again, straightening the blankets as Papyrus left. He leaned against the outside of the door and looked down at Red, who was now just staring blankly at Papyrus’ shirt, crying silently. He stayed there a while just leaning against the door, examining Red. The crack on the crown of his skull was still unsettling, but even more so was the actual softness and frailty of his bones.

“Let’s get you to bed”, he whispered and shifted Red in his arms as he walked down the hall to his own room. He kicks the cracked door open gently, and is quick to lay Red down on the bed. He curls into himself after turning away. Papyrus frowns but notices that the small skeleton is shivering in nothing but a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. He retrieves his hoodie from on the dresser and returns to the bed. Red does not fight it when he is urged to sit up and maneuvered into the oversized clothing. Papyrus chuckles as the other practically swims in the fabric, but the shivering had already started to reduce.

When he laid down next to Red, he did not mention how he pushed himself up against his chest. Instead, he pulled the blanket over both of them and allowed himself to wrap him arms around Red. Neither of them fell asleep right away, but they lay in silence with Papyrus gently rubbing the back of his skull and neither of them speaking. Red was the first to drift off into unconsciousness, leaving Papyrus to his own thoughts until he couldn’t his eyes open any longer however, not before he felt Red shift even closer to him.

~O~O~O~O~O~OO~O~O~OO~

After the second morning with no signs of Sans returning, Papyrus barged back into his room after spending hours searching and began to tear through the room. He tried to convince himself that the pain in his soul was just his anger as he pulled the sheets off the bed and shook them. Random coins and other objects scattered onto the floor. When he saw nothing of importance, he moved onto the dresser, practically ripping the bottom drawer from its slot as he pulled out the few clean clothes before moving onto the nest. When he reached the top drawer he pulled out a large pile of clothing about to move to the rest however, he was stopped by the sound on a dull _thunk_ on the dirty carpet.

He turned and saw a key sitting nearly in the middle of the room, glinting up at him from the sunlight pouring through the dull window. He walked over and bent over, examining its dulled surface covered in a multitude of scratches, large and small. It did not take a genius to figure out where the key went to, since that door behind their house was the only one that Papyrus had never been able to gain access to. He had tried to demand the key from Sans several times before though he only shrugged and said he lost it before accepting whatever beating Papyrus dealt to him. Holding it now, he could not help the sense of pure uneasiness that just rushed over him.

He clenched his hand around the key and glanced to the door to the bedroom, as if his brother would barge in at any moment. He did not understand why he was afraid of such a silly notion, seeing as his brother wouldn’t even fight him. Sans seemed to be very protective of the room though and was adamant on him not getting in there, so it seemed kind of messed up to go against that. Wait . . . since when did he care when his idiot brother wanted or thought? He stalked across the room and back and there and back, lifting clenched fists to his forehead. Why should it matter what his brother thinks?

He would have screamed if he were a less dignified monster. Instead, he pushed it down with the rest of his emotions. He had to look, it was his last chance of any idea as to where his brother had run off to. If he was even still alive. He was happy to be in the privacy of his own home when he took the stairs two at a time. He took a moment to compose himself at the front door and stepped outside, quickly walking around the house to the hidden door. He regarded it silently, examining the sturdy metal of the door, and feeling through the magic that was clearly keeping it locked further.

“Goddammit Sans.”

~O~O~O~O~OO~O~O~O~O~O

Papyrus had awoken relatively early the next morning, enough so that he found himself mildly irritated seeing as his sleep had already been interrupted once. He looked down at the one who had broken him from his peaceful sleep; Red, who was curled up against his chest and whimpering quietly, but still loud enough to be disruptive. He normally would have been more angry by it except that with this small skeleton all he could do was sigh in exasperation and rub his back in what he hoped was a comforting manner. The firm yet gentle circles he massaged against his spine were enough to help Red sink once again into a comfortable sleep. However, Papyrus knew there was no way he would be able to again.

Instead, he listened to the sounds of his brother already shuffling about downstairs and the banging of pots and pans as breakfast was prepared. He was humming loud enough for it to drift through his bedroom door, which was cracked, along with the soft noises of early morning television. Winter birds could also be heard, muffled by the walls and window of his room. Other than that, there was nothing but silence and the soft sound of Red’s breathing. On another day, he would have been able to let sleep take over him once more.

Resigning himself to his fate of at least an hour of boredom, he shuffled his body up until he was leaning against the wall and Red was still resting on his chest. He looked down at his bundle, examining him once more. The dust still lingered on his fingers and, strangely enough, even though Papyrus still had to ask about it, it was not the most disconcerting thing about him. Nor was the large cracked scar that ran along the top of his skull, as Papyrus refused to make assumptions about it. However, his bones were extremely frail and brittle, the echo of bird’s bones, and the larger skeleton trailed his fingers along the roughened surface with an uncomfortable grimace. They felt like they could easily break with little effort for pressure from his hand.

He really needed a smoke. He was careful and shifting to reach into his pocket and pulling from it a small carton. He stared at it for a moment in disappointment before shaking a small white stick out into his hand. He placed it in his mouth and ran his tongue over the end, letting sweetness fill his mouth as sugar began to dissolve. Candy cigarettes were not nearly as satisfying as a real one, but he had promised not to smoke in the house and try to quit and the sugar and feeling was enough to curb the cravings. He figured he would need them now more than ever with the appearance of Red.

Papyrus was jerked from his thoughts by the sound of someone knocking on the door, loudly and demanding authority. He looked over at the clock and saw that it read about nine in the morning. While it was not too early to receive any kind of visitor, it was really strange. He heard his brother shout a _I’m coming_ before the door opened and he could hear the almost murmuring greeting from his brother. He contemplated standing up and going to see who was at the door, but one look at Red and the idea vanished. He dropped his head back against the wall and closed his eyes and half listened to the soft words downstairs followed by a sharper one.

He was in the middle of trying to guess who it was but was interrupted by a shout from his brother.

“Hey! What’re you doing!?”

There was a soft _thud,_ followed by quick, heavy steps jogging up the stairs. Papyrus sat up quickly and unwittingly pulled Red closer to his chest. He could feel his eye warm up as orange magic seeped from it, and all he could think was about protecting Red and Blue. It was strange because, in the short time Red had joined them, Papyrus had become more and more on edge. Red was slowly waking up in his arms, and he looked around in a half daze. He bolted upright though when the door flung open and banged against the wall with a resolute crash.

Standing in the doorway, there was another tall skeleton that looked to Papyrus that could have almost been him, if not for the very few distinct features. He held himself tall and regarded the two of them curled up on the bed. Papyrus held him tighter when the monster’s cold calculating eyes fell onto Red and lingered there for a few moments, before looking to regard him. He seemed to be thinking his words over carefully before he stalked over to tower over the two of them.

“Unhand my brother”, the words rumbled deep from his chest and held an authoritative tone that almost made Papyrus obey had it not been for the overwhelmingly dangerous aura he emitted. Instead he grinned casually and held Red closer, who was becoming more aware of the situation.

“Your brother? Well isn’t that a surprise?” He offhandedly noticed Red shaking, “Who woulda thought the other me would be so goddamn ugly?”

The other Papyrus just growled and grabbed the hem of his tank top to pull him to eye level, “I don’t care where I am, or who you are, but i will kill you if you don't. Let. Go. Of my. Brother.”

“Hmm you sure need to calm down buddy, you don’t need to blow a fuse.” Papryrus would have been scared if he did not have his teleportation abilities. However, as it was, he had nothing to fear.

“Now!”  He did not shout but it was loud and abrupt enough to cause Red to flinch in his arms.

Papyrus narrowed his eyes and stared down his darker “evil” version, “Watch you’re goddamn tone, Buddy. Unless you’re ready to have a really bad time?”

The other Papyrus examined him for another few moments, but thought better of continuing with his assault. He let the tank top go and stood up straight, regarding the two of them as if they were something unappetizing set on a plate in front of him. Papyrus tried to ignore the nearly silent sobbing and shaking of the bundle in his arms as he watched the other one begin to pace the room. He pulled Red closer to his chest and began to rub at his back.

“How the hell did you even get here buddy?” He had not thought to ask Red, but he assumed that this Papyrus probably had the ability to teleport as well.

He stopped in his tracks and turned slowly to stare at Papyrus for a few moments, “I do not see how that matters? The only thing important right now is for me to complete my mission of retrieving my brother.”

Red sat up, sniffling and trying to hide his tears from his brother, “Did you find the machine?”

The native Papyrus tilted his head in confusion. How would Red know about the device that the other Papyrus had probably built? Maybe he had told Red about it? Things were starting to get way too complicated and he was not sure if it was anything that he and Blueberry were ready to handle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaahhh, I'm not sorry for this at all. please let me know what you think


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a lot of drama

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, I got caught up with a lot, but this should be a nice chapter i think! Also, thanks to I_Write_Sans_Not_Tragedies thanks for sucking me into honeymustard hell!! If you guys havent go read learn to live by them, A+++++ fic

His blurry vision slowly cleared to show him that he was still in Snowdin, but now somehow he was outside. He sat up quickly, regretting the action, yet schooling his expression to hide his discomfort. He looked around, seeing there was not a single monster out and that it seemed to still be early morning. However, his house was what caught his attention the most. Instead of it being clean and blissfully plain, it was covered in strange decorations, a bit worn down, and one of the mailboxes was absolutely overflown with letters and junk mail. He frowned and looked down the street towards the other buildings of Snowdin, noting that they were all different in their own disgusting way. Where the hell was he?

He stood slowly. With his head in his hands, he tried to piece together the fragmented memories of what had happened to him. All he could remember was a flash of blinding light and then a cold pain that spiked through his bones and soul. He knew that he had managed to get into Sans’ workshop as well and that it was devoid of his brother. There was something else latched to the back of his mind, but he could not pull it forward enough for it to make any kind of sense. He shook his head clear before moving towards the house. He would not be able to make any progress without first understanding exactly what happened and where he was, so he might as well try to get information from the residents.

He stalked up to the door, and stood tall as he knocked on the door, taking extra care to ensure that was loud and firm enough to demand authority. There was a soft shout of _I’m Coming_ before a small skeleton answered the door and shocking Papyrus with how much he looked like Sans. He had to put a nearly excessive amount of energy into keeping a straight face. The new monster looked up him for a few moments, his discomfort was painfully clear as well. It made Papyrus want to just hurt him. Throw him against a wall, step on him, something. He paused. Those were definitely not healthy thoughts.

“What can I do for you?” He asked in a timid voice.

Papyrus hesitated, he had really not thought that far ahead when he decided on his plan. He did not want to sound absolutely crazy to this pathetic little creature, but he needed information. He realized that the other was still waiting for an answer and was beginning to become even more antsy as he was practically stared down.

“Do you have today’s newspaper?”

It was the only thing that came to his mind and it seemed to throw the stranger off even more as he glanced back into the house for a moment. Papyrus followed his gaze and took in the familiarity of the living room, down to a small picture frame sitting on the television stand. What the hell was this? He was not sure if it was some kind of joke, or some kind of twisted dream, but when his gaze landed on a familiar black hoodie, he lost it.

“Hey! What are you doing!?” He barely noticed how he pushed the small skeleton against the wall so hard he was knocked unconscious. He took a moment to pick up and examine the hoodie before he began a quick search of the downstairs. Finding nothing, he stomped up the stairs quickly and open the first door he came to, which happened to be a mirror of his own.  He swung the door open and let it bang loudly against the wall.

His eyes instantly fall on the bed, drawn by a bright orange glow being emitted by a taller skeleton who looked disturbingly like himself. He had a more tired and lazy air about him that would have made Papyrus feel even more disgusted if not for the dangerous aura that practically flooded from him. His eye was burning extremely bright and he stared intently at the Papyrus, as if waiting for him to attack. His gaze slid down to the bundle that he seemed adamant about protecting from his view, and he saw, wrapped up in a too large hoodie, his brother. He was still half asleep, but quickly becoming more alert.

“Unhand my Brother”, He steeled his voice to sound intimidating as possible. He almost stuck a bone right through the other skeletons skull when he did nothing but put on a shit eating grin and shifted. 

“Your brother? Well isn’t that a surprise? Who woulda thought the other me would be so goddamn ugly?”

Papyrus looked again at Sans and noticed that he was noticeable shaking and watching him with one eye while half of his face was hidden against his captor’s chest. He strode forward quickly and snatched him by the hem of his tank top, pulling him up, “I don’t care where I am, or who you are, but I will kill you if you don’t. Let. Go. Of my. Brother.”

“Hmm, you sure need to calm down buddy, you don’t need to blow a fuse.”

The sheer apathy of the monster holding is brother was absolutely infuriating. Papyrus felt rage bubbling violently in his soul as he nearly shouted, “Now!”

Sans flinching and cowering did not go by unnoticed by him and he felt his anger withering slightly at the reminder that he was not some knight in shining armor. No, he was something that Sans was terrified of. Someone who had pretty much only hurt him in life. He looked at his brother, wrapped up in a stranger’s hoodie and obviously feeling more safe with someone he barely knew rather than his own brother. This stranger seemed to expect nothing back from Sans, moving to comfort him when he let them go and began to pace the room.

“Watch your goddamn tone, Buddy. Unless you’re ready to have a really bad time?” He noticed that the other tall skeleton had brought Sans closer to himself and now glared coldly at Papyrus. Obviously something about him made Sans feel safe. Just the thought alone caused a strange feeling to roil in his soul. One that was not entirely unknown by him. He knew it well, but liked to deny that it was something that affected him.

“How the hell did you even get here buddy?”

Papyrus stopped. A sense of cold dread washed over him. He was missing something important. Something that this other monster knew, and he could tell he was being probed for weaknesses. His orange glow died down, but there was still caution beneath the forced casual expression. Something was so wrong and he had no idea what it was. Why did everything seem so familiar?

“I do not see how that matters? The only thing important right now is for me to complete my mission of retrieving my brother.”

Yeah mission, that was totally the reason he came here on _purpose_. The skeleton just looked at him, clearly confused, and Sans sat up sniffling.

“Did you find the machine?”

Papyrus thought about the strange memory at the back of his head, involving machine and figured that was what his brother meant. He forced an exasperated sigh, “Of course I did I’m not so stupid that I can’t figure out your simple tricks.”

Sans only frowned and allowed himself to be pulled back against the stranger’s chest, who was now glaring at him, “Just where do you get off thinking you can come here and talk like that?”

“He is my brother. I can talk to him how I please, and I suggest you keep to your own business.”

“What? That doesn-” he began, but was cut off by Sans

“Its fine, Papy.”

 _Papy?_ Papyrus looked at the tall skeleton, that was most likely another version of him and scoffed at the ridiculous name he allowed himself to be called. ‘Papy’ looked down at San for a moment with a discontented from but did no argue. It was even more pathetic that he allowed himself to succumb to the will of such a weakling of a monster.

He watched the way the two of them interacted. Sans, while not completely relaxed, seemed to already have more trust in, or at least be more comfortable with, this new skeleton. That one seemed intent on protecting Sans from him for whatever reason, but he did not seem to trust either of them completely. He was at least intuitive enough to see Papyrus as the threat and Sans as some kind of victim. He was not really sure how he felt about that, but it was hot and uncomfortable, like someone had poured magma down his throat.

Sans squirmed out from the grip on him and turned around to face away from Papyrus and towards the other, “Go check on Blue.”

His voice was gruffer and more demanding now, but it was shaky and Papy looked at him with concern and then over his shoulder at the only standing monster. He sighed and stood up. Papyrus moved enough for him to move by without either of them touching. He shot a single warning glare at Papyrus before leaving with the soft click of the door.

Sans and Papyrus did not move, instead, staring at each other for a time, one glaring and the other shaking and nervous. Sans was the first to speak, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Watch your tone with me. You have been missing for almost three days and my patience has run very thin. Especially after finding you laying around with strangers being a lazy bastard.”

Sans winced and looked away at the harsh tone, twiddling his thumbs together idly as he was scolded. Papyrus laughed bitterly and silently. Of course the idiot would only feel bad when he was actually called out on his misbehavior. It was something Papyrus was used to dealing with, but at least he did not try to blubber out excuses as he used to. He had broken the small skeleton of that quickly and efficiently. Of course, at what cost . . .

He tried to push the thoughts aside, but as he examined Sans they became more prevalent. He knew that Sans was small, but he looked haggard and from what he could see of his legs and hands, his bones were scarily thin. The crack on his skull was something that Papyrus had always chosen to ignore, but now was very disconcerting for him to look at for more than a minute glance. He noticed that not only the sweatshirt hung off of him, but also the shorts that he had probably lent from the other inhabitant of the house, who, while slightly taller, should not have been much bigger.

Of course that hoodie . . .

While it was expected for clothes to be lent to him, such as pants or shirts, it was weird for that article to be lent to him, right? Especially in bed, why not just give him an extra blanket? And why share beds with one of them, when he remembered seeing a perfectly functioning couch downstairs, or even the floor? That is certainly what Papyrus would do in a similar situation. He supposed that he would not be considered a shining example of hospitality, though.

Sans was studying him as well, but what he was thinking about, Papyrus had no idea. His brother had many strange and infuriating quirks, and he would have normally shrugged it off as such. However, since he had gone missing, Papyrus had been very conflicted and unsure about many different things. It was definitely a feeling he did not appreciate, and he would have gotten rid of it, if he had any idea of how to push it away. It was a weakness, right?

~O~O~O~OO~O~O~O~O~O~O~O

Sans stared up at Papyrus, who had been regarding him for an uncomfortable amount of time without saying anything. He examined him from head to toe with a strange expression that Sans had never seen. It was calculated yet concerned at the same and then something else that was very similar to anger. It was intense and made Sans squirm. He looked down at his hands that sat in his lap now. He focused on the small chips in the tips of his fingers to try to block out his discomfort.

He was always really lazy. He probably should have tried to find a way back to Papyrus sooner, but he was so happy with the two brothers that the thought had not even crossed his mind. Gods, he was always such a burden, wasn’t he? He barely noticed that he was curling in on himself, wrapping his arms around his legs which he had pulled up to his chest. He kept only his peripheral on his brother and put most of his focus on his fingers which were chipping at the bones of his kneecaps.

Both of them had yet to speak, and the silence had become so overwhelming that he had not noticed that he had hit marrow. Blood began to leak sluggishly from the small crack, stilling his right hand he stared at it idly. His left hand continued to dig underneath the small splinters without him even taking notice to the small stings of pain. He could not bring himself to even begin to react.

That is, until he was pushed backwards roughly and his hands were taken into a vice grip. He _oofed_ with the force of the push and cowed at the sight of Papyrus looming over him with a hold on both of his hands that was almost painful. His trembling wracked across his body harder as he studied the tall skeleton’s face carefully. He looked _pissed._

“Don’t.”

His eyes here hard and dark, and his mouth was clenched so tightly that Sans swore he could hear them grinding against each other. Sans could barely hold himself together then. He had no clue what it was, but something had set his brother off. Taking a risk, he hazarded to ask, “Don’t w-what, Boss?”

He could slam his head against a brick wall repeatedly over how pathetic and scared his voice sounded. He was just asking for his brother to take him and punish him for acting so weak. Papyrus’ eyes where narrowed in an utterly intimidating way, but being held so tightly Sans was not stupid enough to even try escape.

“Do not damage yourself” He enunciated each word in a way that made Sans almost feel stupid, “You need to be able to defend yourself.”

Sans turned his head downwards. He could never stand to look his boss in the eyes or face for too long. Instead he focused on the corner of the mattress to the left of his brother’s face. For whatever reason, he did not feel as though he were worthy of being able to look Papyrus in the eye, just because he was such a pathetic monster. No matter what, he would always be doing something wrong that would cause trouble for the guardsmen.

“Now tell me”, Papyrus released his grip from his left and moved it to his brother’s chin, forcing sans to look him in the eye, “Why are you wearing that awful thing?”

It took an embarrassing amount of time for Sans to understand what it was his brother meant. He followed his gaze down to the bright orange hoodie that the other Papyrus had put on him before they had settled down. He had not even questioned it, too cold to really care what was put on him as long as he was warm. He took his free hand and twisted it into the fabric. When he saw Papyrus’ disgusted expression, his anxiety skyrocketed and he pulled at the hoodie even more.

He did not know what was so bad about it. He was in a house where no one would ever see him, and it was only clothing. It was clearly meant just to keep him warm and comfortable after his harsh episode. He could not bring himself to understand why Papyrus was so upset by it. He barely cared whether Sans was healthy or not. Why would an article of clothing be something that he cared about?

“I was cold” Sans knew that his confusion was evident on his face, but he could not bring himself to mind, “The other Papyrus gave it to me to wear last night. . . Why does it matter, Boss?”

~O~O~O~O~OO~O~O~

Something about seeing his brother in someone else’s clothing really set Papyrus on edge. He tried to find anything else it could be, but he was so familiar with the feeling that there was nothing else it could be. It was something that he had faced throughout his years of developing his persona as a leader, and something that he had not truly felt in a while. He was jealous.

Jealous that his brother trusted these monsters enough to share beds and wear their clothing and be at more peace than he ever was at their home. Back then, he would spend most of his time hiding in his room and barely saying anything to Papyrus. He would never touch anything of his brother’s if he did not absolutely have to. However, here he was wearing this stranger’s hoodie without even making a fuss.

Papyrus could barely understand it! He was Sans’ brother. He should be the one his older brother trusts. Not these two that he could not have known for more than a couple of days! Yet he’s more comfortable with them than he had been with Papyrus in years.

Without even realizing it, his grip on San’s wrist had tightened to the point where he could hear them cracking as if they were about to snap. He frowned as he looked at his brother who, while clearly pained, did not even try to fight him. Instead, he gritted his teeth against the pain and screwed his eyes shut. Papyrus always knew that Sans had trouble fighting back against other monsters, but he had never thought about how much shit the skeleton took from him without fight. Gods, how stupid could he have been?

He loosened his grip instantly, yet did not let go, “It clearly matters because you trust these strangers way too much and you obviously have a habit of putting yourself in danger.”

He internally winced at how cold his voice sounded as Sans’ was obvious and external. Quickly, it hardened as something dark took over the small skeleton’s face.

“So what? If I get myself killed, then you would not have to fucking deal with me anymore? Besides, since when do you care?”

His brother had gotten angry with him before, but Papyrus had never seen him act so coldly and it was shocking, “What the hell do you mean ‘since when do you care?’ I’m the one that is responsible for you and if you die that looks horrible on me! It’s so infuriating to see you making yourself so vulnerable.”

“There aren’t enough people to care whether I live or die, so why should you?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep . . . also the lyrics in this chapter are from Three Days Grace's A fallen angel, also from my playlist for this fic on youtube

_How do you stay so strong? How did you hide it all for so long? How can I take the pain away? How can I save/A fallen angel,_

_“There aren’t enough people to care whether I live or die, so why should you?”_

Papyrus gaped down at his brother, his grip on his wrist slackening enough for him to pull free and bring it to his chest. He still glared, hard and cold, but his posture was small and fragile in a weird contradiction that made Papyrus really think on everything that happened to his brother. Or at least what he actually knew since Sans had refused to ever tell him much of anything about when Papyrus was a baby and what their family had been like. He knew it could not have been easy.

He brought himself back to the present and to his brother who was watching him carefully. He realized it had been a good minute since either of them spoke, and Sans was probably expecting some kind of response. He had no idea how to answer that kind of question.

It was as if the small skeleton had knocked all of his useable arguments from the air with that one sentence. Anything he could say would be invalidated by it, or, at least, anything he could bring himself to say. He could say that he was doing it to protect his image, but even if he were the one to kill Sans, not a single monster would hold it against him because they hated him as much as they thought Papyrus did. Nobody in Snowdin liked Sans, and they all figured that Papyrus hated him even more and saw him as a burden.

Love was a weakness to the monsters of his dimension, and to them Sans was nothing more than a minute hindrance. A problem that kept Papyrus from reaching his full potential, and he was nothing but that to them. That was how Papyrus had always treated him as well, but he figured if that was all he had done, this whole disaster could have been avoided. But no, he could not stop at that. He had to try to make Sans stronger, yet all he had done was damage him further.

He was sick.

He had no idea how to respond still, but thankfully he did not have to because the door was flung open, distracting both of them. He was barely able to dodge the blast of searing magic sent at him by his other self. He was half aware of his brother shouting something, but he was grabbed before he could move.

He grunted as he felt his soul squeeze and everything blurred around him, before he was dropped in the snow. He realized that they were now outside. So this version of him could teleport like his brother? He tucked that information away for later so that he could focus on his new opponent. He took in the blaster hanging idly behind his enemy who was waiting for him to make a move. He clearly fought similarly to his brother, as well. He grinned. This would be easy.

A strange sense of bloodlust washed over him then. He did not necessarily want to kill this other skeleton, but it had been a while since someone had dared to try and fight him. He let his magic crackle out from his soul and down his arm to form a blood red, sharpened bone in his palm. This way he could forget about all his weird, muddled thoughts regarding his brother and more than likely release some stress.

From the corner of his eye, he saw his Sans standing in the doorway next to his other self, but he wiped them from his mind as he dashed forward to attack. He would have to test out the waters first. In a simple move, he brought down his weapon to try to land a hit on the other’s head, but he dodged so quickly that Papyrus could barely comprehend it. Suddenly the other Papyrus was behind him and he made another close hit. He was a lot stronger than Papyrus had originally thought.

He exchanged his chance to retaliate to take a moment to more thoroughly examine his enemy. He seemed to be using only minimal effort so far, as the blaster stayed back and he only wielded a bone of his own. Even so, he was definitely aiming to kill, but there was definitely more to him than he had revealed even then. Papyrus could not hesitate though even as a stone of nervousness began to form in the pit of his nonexistent stomach. He figured he was just in a state of shock from the suddenness of the attack.

The other Papyrus had backed off of him and now they stood staring at each other. He was clearly furious because he could tell that this “Papy” was not very fond of anything that required effort. But now, he looked like he was ready to tear something apart.

“I don’t know what the _fuck_ you did to your brother, but not only did you hurt him you come here and hurt mine!” He spat the words out. Papyrus frowned and glanced back at the two skeletons in the door, and realized that the blue one had a crack down the left side of his skull mirroring the one on the right side of his brother’s skull. It was not as extensive but it still looked painful and it leaked bone marrow. He turned back to the other version of himself, who’s eyes where filled with cold anger.

“Get out.”

He was being given a chance to back out from the fight, but Papyrus would rather die before he ran away from anything. He responded only with another attack, summoning bones from the ground underneath his feet. He teleported effortlessly and reappeared directly in front of Papyrus. Which was a mistake on his part as Papyrus was able to get a hit of him. He stumbled backwards, but other than that he was right back into offensive, driven by anger and ignoring his own wellbeing. This made it all the more dangerous.

“I’m not going anywhere without my brother.”

Papy stopped and laughed coldly at him, “Oh really? Then I guess you aren’t going much of anywhere then.”

Papyrus tried to ignored the chill that ran down his spine as he moved to dodge another blast of magic from the giant floating skull, only to run right into a direct hit from a bone. He grunted and barely kept himself on his feet. The blows this guy was dealing were massive and managed to damage him greatly. He was already missing a quarter of his HP whereas he had barely managed to knock out an eighth of Papy’s. He figured he got himself into some deep shit.

~O~O~O~O~OO~O~O~OO~O~OO~

Red watched as his brother and Blue’s brother fought, terrified as they were both obviously aiming to kill. He was not as worried about Papy, but he watched his Papyrus’ HP closely. He felt a hand slip into his and he gripped it, only sparing Blue a moments glance. He saw the edges of the cracking but he was glad he could not see all of what his brother had done to him. He felt a returning squeeze, but it did nothing to quell his growing anxiety.

When Papy landed a hit on his brother, he flinched but managed to stand his ground beside blue. He had seen his brother in many fights and dangerous situations. Even so, seeing the murderous intent mixed with unadulterated anger seeping from his opponent put Red completely on edge. He never knew that he could be such a threat.

Papyrus thought quickly and tactically but it seemed as if Blue’s brother was one step ahead of him the entire way. It was wrenching to see his brother in such a state of desperate defensiveness, but if he could not take Papy on, Red did not think there was much that he could do without getting killed. He could not side with either of them, but if his brother were to die, he would have absolutely nothing. All he could think to do was wait, watch and allow Blue to hold him.

Without even realizing it, tears were beginning to flow down his cheeks, and he could feel wetness on the back of his skull from where Blue was shedding his own tears. Papyrus was beginning to lose his grip on his magic and he took a couple more hits. His magic stuttered and he almost lost grip on his bone. He now was on his knees, glaring at Papy who did not show any signs of change in demeanor.

Papy walked forward slowly until he was standing over his brother with a bone gripped tightly in his hand. Papyrus glared up at him, panting heavily and spit out some words that neither of them could hear. He said something back that caused the guardsmen to tense up and his eyes flared with anger, yet he could not muster the energy to raise his weapon let alone strike out. Red’s eyes widened as he watched Papy raise the bone over his head, ready to bring it down onto his brother’s head.

He did not think.

He could not even comprehend his own actions, but the next thing he knew, there was a bursting pain in his back as he hunched over his brother’s skull. The vertigo left over from teleportation was cut out by the agony that tore through him and he could feel arms around him to prevent him from hitting the ground.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~OO~~O

_No!_

_No, no, no, no._ Papyrus watched his brothers face as he slumped heavily into his arms, gurgling in pain and eyes completely unfocused. Adrenaline that he did not know he had left shot through him as he gripped Sans face and tried to get him to look him in the eye, but he did not move. His blood pounded in his ears and he could barely hear the high pitched shrieking of another monster’s screams. All he could really comprehend was that his brother’s face was blank and lifeless.

He was not even aware of the trembling of his hands or the one tear the slipped from his eye socket.

~O~O~O~O~OO~O~O~OO~O~O~

He stared down at the slumped form in that bastard’s arms, wide eyed and completely shocked into stillness. The bone was gripped in his hand still and he was well aware of the splash of blood on it from Red’s cracked bones. _What had he done?_ Oh gods, he could feel hid brother shaking him and hitting his ribs weakly all while yelling and crying.

Red stained orange in a jarring manner and all he could do was stare as the other Papyrus trembled and clenched his brother close to his chest. Papyrus had managed to pull back his attack back enough to keep from killing Red, but he was on the edge, and if nothing was done, he would die. He looked down again at his brother, seeing that his face was bright blue from crying. He could only watch as the other Papyrus lifted Red’s shirt and pulled his soul forward and began to pour all of his magic into it. However, being so exhausted he could not even summon enough energy to make any changed to the nearly shattered surface of the glowing heart.

As much as Papyrus was angry with Red’s brother, he could not let the poor skeleton just die. He pushed Blue from him gently and dropped down in front of the pair. When he reached his hands out, the soul was snatched up by the other Papyrus and held to his chest almost protectively. He would have rolled his eyes at the glare he received if he was not so afraid for Red’s life.

“Let me help him!” When the other made no move to relent Papyrus persisted, “Please let me save him.”

Reluctantly, his brother loosened his grip and held out his cupped hands between them. The red glow was pulsing weakly and barely there, but it was enough for them to save. Papyrus cupped his hands over the exposed top of the soul and began funneling as much magic as he could spare into it.

It was slow work, and it seemed for a time that they were not making any progress, but eventually the cracks started to fill in with blood red and a honey orange color. When he was stable enough, Papyrus leaned back with a weary sigh. The other Papyrus was thoroughly checking his brother over, seemingly stony, but the intent of the action had Papyrus noticing how much he secretly cared. He shook his head clear of the thought and stood slowly.

What a disaster. Blue was standing in the same spot he had been shoved to, watching them both and swaying on his feet. The red that had been seeping from the crack had stopped long ago, and now he just looked absolutely exhausted. The other Papyrus was no better, completely battered and weak from the fight and then his ditch-all attempt to keep Red alive. Said skeleton was still unconscious and breathing weakly. Fine trembles wracked his body, but other than that he was completely still and silent.

_Gods, what a disaster._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think if you like. Im sorry its kinda short, but there was a lot of action and it was hard to get to a stopping point cause if i continued it would be a whole other chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> UF!Pap contemplates on his feelings and treatment towards his brother. Papy realizes that he really fucking cares about Red. Don't make Blue mad . . . Seriously. UF!Pap is still a dick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I've gone through and started writing out chapter outlines for the next half of this story, and man it suddenly got so much longer, but now i have an approximation of chapter numbers so there's that. It will probably end up being more, but its what I think for now.

[Playlist for this Fic ](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpuFVpbdNXODeBKYXUFseRPv-tvtZ3O94&nohtml5=False)

Papyrus sat on the couch in the strange yet familiar house. He had been left alone to his thoughts as Papy had left him to take care of the two small skeletons and get them settled down. His thoughts kept returning to those words that Papy had whispered to him during their fight.

_“Give me my fucking brother!” Papyrus panted and glared at the skeleton that was standing over him, staring at him with cold anger._

_“You don’t deserve him.”_

At the time he had been so furious to hear the words, but now, looking back he could not help but agree with him. He had been too prideful to see that his attempts to help his brother were a failure. That they had turned into something else entirely as he continued to fail and had become more frustrated. Sans had done nothing but adored him, but to Papyrus that was not much more than a burden. He was not nearly as good as he thought he was if he could not even help his only family.

The silence of the living room did nothing but amplify the sounds coming from Blue’s bedroom on the second floor. He could hear the beginnings of a conversation and the words were drowned out by the wall. The concern in Blue’s voice and the exhaustion in Papy’s were very easy for him to pick up though. It kind of hurt to realize that these two skeletons that barely knew Sans could express more care and concern than he had ever been able to. He probably ever would be able to.

He thought he had always wanted what was best for Sans. He thought that he had done everything he had because he cared. _That’s why you raped and beat him?_ The question taunted him in the voice of his other self. He didn’t even have to know him to know that would be a question he would ask. Maybe everything he did was not at selflessness. Maybe he was just so angry that he could not control himself?

Why would he be angry though? He had one of the highest ranking positions in the underground, and he was feared and respected by all. He had a decent home and good pay. However, it was never enough. He could not ever let his guard down or slip up and he could not even allow himself any hope. He had to be strong all the time, and it had quickly become too much. At some point, through it all, he had decided to simply take it out on Sans, who was content to never become any stronger. It frustrated Papyrus to no end that his brother was able to slide by without having to mercilessly kill anyone, yet he was still left alone.

Of course, he had a vague idea of what Sans had to do to be able to survive, and he knew that he had limitations due to his HP. Even so, it did not seem to change Papyrus’ feelings when they were wrapped up in that situation. Or maybe he was disgusted with Sans for what he had done. _Yeah, what he had done to keep you safe and alive._ He stopped at the thought. He had always known that, but he had pushed it down to fulfill his own selfish needs.

He rubbed his gloved hand over his face, wincing as he brushed over one his new, small chips. He could not keep going on this way. Taking his anger out on Sans had done nothing more than increase his guilt in the present as he dwelled on everything he had done to the small skeleton. All he could do now was try to make things better for his brother now.

~O~O~O~OO~O~O~O~OO~O~O~O~O  
Blue had left Papy alone in their shared room to watch over Red as he went downstairs to start on dinner for them. His vision had easily trained on the soft rise and fall of Red’s chest. It was fluttering too, like a bird or some other small creature were trapped within his ribcage. His healing had gone well but he still had yet to wake up and Papy figured it would be a few days before he actually did. The scarred cracking on his shoulder blade peeked out from his back, reminding him painfully of what he had done.

There was so much about it all that he would never forget, and it was all terrifying. It hurt so much just to think about it, but Papy could not help but feel that he deserved it in some sick way. If only he could have kept himself in control instead of indulging in his anger. Gods, if he had killed Red. He thought he had, when he saw those eyes that looked up at him wide and accepting death as Papy brought his arm down. They held nothing but selflessness, determination, and fear, and he had almost extinguished that permanently.

A lump was congealing painfully in his chest. When he closed his eyes he could see nothing but those eyes and then red . . . so much red. He put his hand over his chest and found himself mimicking the shallow, quick breaths of the small skeleton on the bed. Swaddled in all of the blankets that Blue could gather, he looked impossibly small and frail. He started to massage over his ribs and sternum but it did nothing to ease the growing tightness. It was like a thick, smothering noose, and he could not bring himself to shake loose from it.

He had tried so hard to keep them safe. All he had ever wanted was for his brother to not have to worry about being seriously injured or killed, and then Red too, when he came along. He had failed so miserably at that. So much so, that he could not even keep Blue from being hurt. His poor innocent brother. And then Red . . . he was hoping that the broken monster would have been able to find safety with them, but now he was severely injured. It was all his fault. If only he could control his anger.

He stopped and listened to the clattering of pans from the kitchen before moving to sit on the side of the bed, as close as he could to Red. He did not even try to stop himself as he stretched a hand forward and brought it to stroke lightly against his skull. He made sure to avoid the extensive cracking on the left side, which he examined closely. Even though it was mostly scarred over, it still seemed extremely painful to Papy. He could not even imagine what caused it.

He looked over Red’s face. To put bluntly, he looked awful. His eyes somehow had even more bags under them, and the cracking across his eyes made it no better. There were also several small chips and scratches, but Papy was unsure if they were old or new at this point. He was covered in way too many marks of pain and it hurt to look at.

He trailed his hand down to trace over one of the small nicks on his cheekbone. It was not particularly large or deep, but for some reason it grabbed his attention. It had an incredibly even structure, but the texture was rough and porous. He had no idea where it came from because anything from the fall caused the more jagged scratches on the other side of his face. It reminded Papy of a claw mark. He frowned and, in a moment of strange melancholy, leaned down to plant a quick kiss on the small imperfection.

Wasn’t that just strange?

~O~O~O~O~O~O~OO~O~O~O~O~O

Dinner was uneventful, after Blue had managed to drag Papy downstairs to the kitchen table. He spent most of the time either looking down at the table ashamed or sending cold glares at his counterpart. Edge, as Blue called him of course (he seemed to be keen on giving every one of them some silly nickname), mirrored him almost perfectly, but at different intervals. Blue did not even try to make conversation, just looking between them with some strange and unreadable expression. It was probably the most uncomfortable event of Papy’s life. Well probably not, but close.

They were both told to stay seated after they had finished, and all they could do was watch as Blue cleaned off the table. Edge was left wondering why he was even listening to that pathetic runt. Maybe he felt guilty for hurting and scarring him. Papy sat in dread because he had just recognized the look on his brother’s face for what it really was. This was not a conversation he wanted to have.

Blue sat back down after dumping the dishes in the ridiculously short sink, and fixed a look between them that seeped determination, sternness, and a hint of disappointment. Edge did not seem to pick up on it though as he only continued to stare down what he thought was just a weak monster. Papy knew much better than that. He knew that one of Blue’s ‘stern talking to’s’ were enough to even put wise elderly monsters in a state of shame. It was something Papy had thankfully only had to experience on one occasion.

“I’m very disappointed in the two of you” Blue began, but before he could continue any further, he was interrupted.

“Why would you be disappointed in me if you barely know me?” Edge was looking at him, nothing short of incredulous.

Blue turned on him with one finger raised at him, much like a scolding mother, “Because, if you are anything like my brother, which I suspect you would be, then you should know so much better than that!”

Edge gave him a strange, confused look, but he did not argue any further.

“Papy!” He looked up from where he was staring at the table, and Blue fixed him with a stern eye, “You should have known better than to throw yourself into a fight so carelessly! What if there were other monsters around? You could have hurt someone else!”

He flinched, yet he didn’t dare try to argue with his brother.

“That goes for both of you! And you” Turning now towards Edge, “You should know better than to go barging into people’s homes without their permission! And so rudely too! I would have let you in if you just asked!”

He turned again to Papy, “If I hear you blaming yourself, or see you moping around anymore about what happened I will personally make sure that you will not be able to get any honey for a whole month. Red did what he thought he had to, and he will not blame you for what happened. Just talk to him and he will definitely forgive you!”

He stood then and moved around the table to point his finger directly at Edge, “I don’t know exactly what goes on between you and Red, but both Papy and I know it’s not good. You better start treating him better because he deserves it! If I see anything happen to him, I will personally enlist the help of Alphys and my brother to make sure you never do again!”

Edge’s eyes had grown wider and wider as he listened to Blue’s angry monologue. He did not know much about this universe, but if this one’s Alphys was half as scary as the one from where he came from, then she was not someone he wanted to mess with along with Papy. Granted, he already felt like an awful creature for what he had done to Red, but he figured it did not hurt to have the extra incentive anyway.

Blue looked at both of them in their shell-shocked states and nodded in satisfaction, “Alright, well, I’m going to go upstairs and check on Red.”

Neither answered him as he left. They sat at the table, not looking at each other still, but definitely sharing similar feelings. Papy felt as though he got off easy compared to Edge and counted his lucky stars. He did not move though, only sitting in the overwhelming silence of the kitchen as he watched Edge process what had happened.

Soon, he looked away and stared at a spot on the wall, listening to the occasional shift of the other skeleton. There was a soft creaking from the ceiling from Blue moving about above them, and then an awkward shuffle. They both looked at each other for a moment before Edge hung his head.

“I know”

Papy’s eyes widened a fraction, “Know what?”

“That I am definitely not the best monster in the world,” He planted his elbows on the table to rest his head in his hands, “And I’m definitely an even worse brother.”

Papy gave an internal sigh of relief. He definitely did not want to deal with a possessive, overly jealous brother right after such a stressful day. He leaned forward to regard Edge, “What do you mean? How could you be that bad?”

He had an idea, and they were both aware that he was fishing for information. Edgy could not bring himself to care, so he answered anyway, “I’ve done so many awful things to him. All I wanted to do was make him stronger so that he could defend himself from all the other monsters in the other ground. I did not realize that I was only making him weaker and more vulnerable.”

After a few moments of silence, Papy figured that was all that Edge was going to say on the subject, but it was enough for him to guess at the rest of it. To say he was angry was an understatement. However, it was all drowned out in the strange numbness from a number of revelations. The ways that Red had behaved, the nervousness and caution, all made so much sense. He had lived in a home that absolutely required it.

He wanted nothing more than to just lose it, but when he looked at Edge he saw so much regret and self-hatred that he stopped. It was a strange sight on such an intimidating figure. He sighed and let his hand drop into his hand to mirror the other’s posture.

“Just . . .  apologize to him or something. I’m sure he would forgive you, whether you deserve it or not. And for the love of stars, you better fucking treat him better.”

Edgy only nodded before they lapsed into tense silence.

~O~O~O~O~O~OO~O~O~O~OO~O~

It was late in the evening when Papy had dragged Blue to his room for sleep and left Edge to watch over Red for the night. He did not really mind though, the small monster needed sleep, and he knew he would not be getting any that night. He took up watch in the small kitchen chair, which they tried to make comfortable with layers of blankets, and leaned forward to watch Red carefully.

He examined all of the defects on his bones and could not wince as a large amount were cause by his own hand. He had always known that what he did had hurt Red, but he had never even stopped to think about the extent and permanence of it. He reached a hand out to the one injury he could remember causing in vivid detail. He stroked his hand over the extensive webbing of cracks. He knew he caused most of the others, but it was all remembered in a diluted haze.

He had to draw his hand back to prevent himself from scratching his brother’s skull further in his anger at himself. Instead he let his claws dig into his palm, feeling them easily cutting through the bone. It hurt, but it was nothing compared to the pain he inflicted on Red.

He turned his attention back to said monster, who was in the beginnings of a nightmare. Papy could feel the horror seep into his soul as he could clearly hear his brother’s soft pleas and cries of pain. _Boss . . . please . . . please stop. It hurts._ He did not even realize the blood dripping from his palm as he listened to Red’s pained whispering. Edge was aware that he had nightmares, but for whatever reason he had never thought that they would have anything to do with him. It was obvious that he really was not as perfect as he once thought.

When Red began to sob and whimper, Edge was broken from his self-deprecating thoughts. He did not even think as he climbed onto the bed and pulled Red carefully into his lap. It was awkward and uncomfortable as Edge had to be cautious of his injuries, but it seemed to be enough to settle Red before it escalated any more. He brought a hand up and around Red to stroke softly at his skull.

Who thought that it would have always been that easy to settle his brother back down. He leaned down to place a small kiss on the top of Red’s head before there was barely a breath of a whisper.

“I’m sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, say it with me everyone, Edge is still a dick!! I mean he is passed all total forgiveness, but we all know Red can't give him up. He's too psychologically attached (in the worst kind of way).


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahahahaha, so i had chapter outlines written out but apparently screw that, i do what i want by sticking it to myself. Also this was supposed to have some fluff but that didnt happen either. Its safe to say this is writing itself.

_When Sans opened his eyes to nothing but darkness, he could do nothing but softly curse. He was back in that godawful place, with those godawful memories and that godawful monster that he never wanted to remember. This time though, there were no tendrils caressing at his bones, or stark white faces with more void for eyes._

_He lay there instead, staring off into the blank black, that soon began to gain detail. It started off as Sans thinking he was becoming delusional, seeing small specks of white. Maybe it was his minds way of filling in the emptiness that should not exist, but that seemed to not be the case as the flashing spots became more defined and bright. It almost looked like . . .  static, as if he were looking at an extremely dark television. It actually wasn’t that bad if he only focused on the strange static and not the memories that came with this place._

_Of course, peace always had to be broken for him._

_(_ Enjoying the view? _)_

_If Sans was not so exhausted, he would have tried to run, walk, crawl or whatever it took to get away. However, as it was, he could not do much more than turn his head to face that familiar monster, who stood there with that eternal grin. He could see now, that the void dripped off of him like tar, either remerging into the floor or expanding until it again became a part of the fallen monster. It was so entrancing that Sans almost forgot that he was in potential danger._

_Gaster just stared at him, with some sort of strange, almost prideful, look. It was as if he were an artist appraising his masterpiece in the works._

_He moved forward, as if gliding, and leaned over Sans, who was quick to discover that he was already pinned. The void had reached up again and grabbed him, albeit loosely, yet he could not muster the will to break free. That grin fucking taunted him, and still he could not become angry enough to help himself._

_It felt as if her own thoughts were pounding against the inside of his skull._

_Or was that just the cloying blackness that seeped in and now pushed outwards. He would have screamed had it not filled his mouth, almost feeling like cotton had been forced past his teeth. Pain blossomed outwards like a quake across the ground, scarring underneath and only sometimes surfacing. Bone began to bulge and bend outwards._

_He heard it near his ear canal. Felt a small breath of air as if a snake were crawling over dead grass. The warmth almost seemed as if it were burning him._

_(Still resisting, I see.)_

_Oh stars! It was spreading down his spine. Burning now with intensity and settling into his chest cavity, right next to his soul. Oh fuck! Shit, shit, **shit**!! The darkness tore at the magic surrounding his soul until it was forced into tangibility. When it began to wrap around the small, broken heart he fucking lost it._

_He could do nothing more than scream as it felt as though his entire soul was being swallowed by the void. It grew in his chest, seeping now into the space between his vertebrae and once again pushing on his ribs as it became engorged on his magic. Fuck, the pain was nearly unbearable._

_It was as if the void, maybe not void, maybe something that was a part of Gaster, was trying to force its way into the bones themselves. The pain was too much and Sans could not fucking **move**!! The sound of erratic slow clicking became noticeable as it grew louder and louder. _

_His voice came again, like something wet sliding over sandpaper._

_(Let’s see how long you can withstand.)_

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O

Blue ran his fingers under the tap of the ridiculously short sink, making sure that the water was not too hot. It had been about a day and a half since Red was hurt and he had yet to show any signs of waking. Blue sighed tiredly.

Papy was constantly trying to coax him away from Red’s bedside, but he could not bring himself to leave. There was too much for him to be afraid of. His biggest fear was that Red would never wake up, or that if he did, something permanent would have happened to him. He spent so much time in that room, fruitlessly attempting to convince himself that Red would be okay. That he would wake up soon. Maybe hoping would work.

He pushed the basin under the stream and watched idly as it filled, warm coils of steam rising from it almost peacefully. He sighed. The last few days had been absolutely exhausting, but he was determined keep going for Red’s sake. He pulled it to the edge of the sink and turned off the tap. He hoisted it against himself and proceeded to haul it up the stairs.

After some maneuvering, he managed to hip-check the door open and slide into the darkened room. He was so focused on keeping the warm water from spilling out, that he almost did not notice the distressed keen from the skeleton on the bed. He paused and almost dropped the basin in shock.

Red lay on the bed, tossing and turning as if he were in the throes of nightmare. The small noises tearing themselves from him would be enough to stop Blue in his tracks under normal circumstances. However, nothing could have prepared him from the cold wave of dread that crashed over him. It was hard to describe, but something was _wrong_. Something akin to nausea washed over him.

He fumbled with the tub of water, not caring as it splashed some of its contents onto the ground, before rushing over to the bed. Red writhed on the bed, and his cried grew in volume as strange symmetrical cracks flickered across the top of his skull. The spaces filled in with an indescribable blackness for a moment before his skull shifted back into place, only to displace elsewhere.

Blue had never seen anything like it before. Panic spiked through him next to the sickness, yet he could not bring himself to move to wake Red for a few extensive moments. The heavy and erratic rise and fall of Red’s chest was strangely mesmerizing as he could not bring himself to look at Red in the face. He only noticed that he was trembling almost as badly as Red only when he reached out. He shook Red gently, but it seemed to have no more affect than distressing him more.

Blue was barely able to catch the mumblings of _No_ and _Get away_ , but they were enough to send even more shivers down his spine. He shook Red more vigorously and began to call out, not caring how desperate he sounded.

“Red! Red, please wake up!” He knew he was crying but he could not bring himself to worry about it as his alarm grew, “Wake up Red!! It’s just a dream!! Please wake up.”

Even so, something felt off, and Blue did not really believe that it was only a dream. He could not think of anything else to say, and Red’s despondency only sent him further into panic. He was torn between feeling happiness or dread that their brothers were not home at the moment because his voice had risen to nearly screaming. He had seen Red’s nightmares before, but none of them were as bad as this. Usually, either he or Papy were able to wake him up from the night terrors and hold him until he fell back into a more peaceful slumber. This time, it was as if Red was trying to fight to wake up but something was holding him back.

He only woke when he fell from the bed and landed on his injured shoulder. The scream that pierced the air was almost deafening. Blue was on his knees in a flash, pulling Red up and off of his wound, making what he hoped were soothing hush sounds. He held Red’s, now normal, skull to his chest and rubbed at his good shoulder as he cried small wet stains into Blue’s bandana.

They sat in silence for a while, but it was not long until Red struggled up into a sitting position, and refused Blue’s help as he crawled back into the bed. He was sick of feeling absolutely useless and he did not think he could bear the thought of needing help to simply stand at the moment. Even though the pain was near unbearable he refused. He had to practically drag himself up, but soon he was back under the covers and taking time to catch his breath.

Blue watched him during the entire process with quiet anxiety, having to resist the urge to reach out and help his counterpart support himself. After he was settled, there were a few moments of awkward silence as the two could do nothing but stare at each other, as if trying to read the other’s mind. Red was mostly trying to figure out why Blue looked like he had seen some kind of ghost or great beast, while Blue was running over several methods of broaching the topic to him. He had never seen something like that and to say it was shocking was the least of it.

Red grew more defensive and hunched under Blue’s scrutiny. As much as he wanted to speak up and ask what was wrong, he was too afraid of what the answer would be. It took a lot to phase Blue and the fact that he was clearly perturbed now was enough to make dread form like a stone in his soul. That, coupled with the vague memories of his nightmare that was not quite a nightmare, was making him even more of a nervous wreck.

Finally, Blue looked up at him, tears glimmering in his eyes, “What was that, Red?”

He became baffled. Blue knew he had nightmares multiple times before. He had no idea how this was any different than any other time. He thought it was just the other Sans overreacting again, but when he saw the shell-shocked and completely worried look on Blue’s face, he could not help but think differently.

“What was what?”

~O~O~O~OO~O~O~O~OO~O~O~O~O~O~

Edge, as the native brothers insisted on calling him, looked around the café that was apparently a replacement for that grease hole that his Sans had been so keen on visiting at least once a day. At least it was clean and smelled pleasantly of fresh baked pastries and hot tea, a far cry from Grillby’s. The only downside was the webs that seemed to hang everywhere as spiders dashed across them from table to table to drop off food and drink. Edge could appreciate the efficiency of it, even if it was quite a disturbing thought.

He did not understand why though, that Papy had dragged him here. He had grumbled something about needing to get out of the house, but Edge assumed it was something else. He wasn’t sure what tipped him off first; the tenseness in Papy’s shoulders or the way he glared at Edge, but either way, he knew this wasn’t some friendly lunch. He figured whatever Papy had to tell him, he deserved plus so much more.

He had spent the past few days not just worrying about Red and his recovery, but also beating himself up over his treatment towards his brother. He was stuck between wanting to get on his knees in front of Red and begging for forgiveness and going out and dusting some random monster. He figured the latter would put him in even worse standing, but his hands were itching for some kind of violence to release the tension. It was a damned itch that he could not fucking scratch.

“I want nothing more than to knock some of your teeth out right now.”

Edge’s head snapped up. He had not realized he had focused his attention on the table, and internally scolded himself for not paying more attention to his surroundings. Papy had stated the words in such a matter of fact manner that Edge was so unsure as to whether he should take them as a threat or not. Papy did not look as if her were about to jump him or anything. Instead, he was calm in an almost disturbing manner.

“Then why don’t you?”

It wasn’t a challenge, not in the least, but a genuine question, bordering on a request. Edge would gladly take another beating.

“Because I don’t think Red would ever forgive me if I did.”

Guilt crashed into Edge with such a surprising amount of force that he had to take a moment to breathe. He knew the words were nothing but the truth. Even through all of the shit that Edge put him through, Red could do nothing but love and admire him in such a way that was very soul-crushing. Even though all of this was known, Edge was still fighting the urge to barge into Red’s room and trying to smack him into getting up off of his lazy ass and actually being productive.

Edge shook that last thought from his mind, knowing it was completely inappropriate and would do nothing more than cause bigger problems. The urges still came as they used to, but now he could easily shrug them off and move on. Granted, he was still awkward in displaying his emotions and he would be for a long time, but now he felt as if something he hadn’t felt in a long time was growing within his soul. It was small, but it was enough for him to see his wrongs.

“Anyway” Papy waved his hand casually, dismissing the silence that had fallen over them, “I just wanted you to know something. I’m sure you already have an idea of what I’m going to say.”

Oh, of course Edge knew. He remained silent and Papy took it as a cue to continue.

“I’m going to keep this short. If you hurt Red again, nothing will stop me from tearing you apart bone by bone until your soul is nothing but shreds.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is also posted on my very sinful tumblr Hey-there-fey.tumblr.com, if you want to see a lot of that pop on over there. let me know what you think of this trash with a comment maybe?


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